Currently, automated and manual systems for classifying and mapping fire from overhead imagery do exist. The mapping of fires at the resolution that this invention achieves is currently done manually. This process requires a human analyst trained to identify fire from overhead imagery to scour the image looking for regions which appear to contain fire. Once areas that are believed to contain fire are noted, the analyst must create images and/or other files denoting their analysis. This process can be very time consuming, especially for images which cover large areas of land that the image analyst must observe. With this method, classification can only be completed by highly skilled analysts. In emergency situations or when there are many images which need to be analyzed, an analyst may be unable to accurately analyze all of the images on the timescale that the mission requires.
Other methods of automated fire classification from overhead EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infra-Red) satellite imagery generally use lower resolution images. For example, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire feed only achieves a one kilometer resolution. The low resolutions of the current automated classification systems are disadvantageous because individual fires may be much smaller than one kilometer. This means that a very large fire which actually does cover a one kilometer square has the possibility of appearing the same as a very small fire and vice versa. Accurate estimates of the area of the fire can be crucial information when used for combating the fire. The current methods have the possibility of masking the extent of the fire because of their low resolution.
The present invention also differs from the MODIS fire feed in the regions of the electromagnetic spectrum that it uses to identify fires. The MODIS sensors are capable of sensing electromagnetic radiation at 3.9 and 11 micrometers. From FIG. 1 we can see that these are in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) regions of the spectrum. Radiation that we feel as heat typically comes from these regions of the spectrum. The present invention detects fires by only using information contained in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) and/or short-wave infrared (SWIR) regions of the spectrum. The fact that the NIR and SWIR bands are not true thermal bands makes the detection of fires much more difficult.
Some methods are limited by the size of the files that they create as an output of their mapping algorithm. Bandwidth can be an important factor when trying to stream important information to its destination. Some of the current methods create classification maps which can be proportional in size to the original image. To transmit these files can require a significant amount of bandwidth and time. The large file sizes can become especially restrictive when dealing with mobile wireless technologies such as those used by first responders.